Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

The Planetary Society

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Episodes

This week on Planetary Radio we take a trip to The Planetary Society’s Eclipse-O-Rama festival in Fredericksburg, Texas, where hundreds gathered to witness the April 8 total solar eclipse.

Apr 24

1 hr 36 min

Tabletops and telescopes: NASA’s RPG and the hunt for habitable worlds

We explore NASA's first tabletop role-playing game with senior multimedia specialist Christina Mitchell and a new way to find water worlds with Amaury Triaud from the University of Birmingham.

Apr 17

1 hr 2 min

Radiolab helps name a quasi-moon of Venus

This week on Planetary Radio, Latif Nasser, co-host of Radiolab shares the story behind the naming of Zoozve, a quasi-moon of Venus.

Apr 10

48 min

Space Policy Edition: Real and Acceptable Reasons for Space Exploration

Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin discusses his claim that there is a tension between the so-called Real reasons that motivate spaceflight and the prosaic, Acceptable reasons used to justify space exploration within the public sphere.

Apr 5

53 min

Syzygy science: Discoveries made during total solar eclipses

Planetary Radio marks its last show before the Apr. 8 total solar eclipse with a look back at discoveries made during totality.

Apr 3

57 min

Eclipse Tips: A guide to safe observing and astrophotography

Ron Benner, the President of the American Optometric Association, and astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy give helpful tips for safely observing the upcoming total solar eclipse in North America.

Mar 27

59 min

The asteroid hunter

Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, joins Planetary Radio to share stories from his new book, The Asteroid Hunter.

Mar 20

56 min

Tales of totality: The adventures of an eclipse chaser

Jim Bell, a professor from the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and former president of The Planetary Society's Board of Directors, shares captivating tales from his global eclipse-chasing journeys.

Mar 13

59 min

Geothermal activity on the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake

A team co-led by the Southwest Research Institute has made a groundbreaking discovery, revealing evidence of hydrothermal or metamorphic activity on the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake in the Kuiper Belt. The lead author of this research, Chris Glein, joins Planetary Radio to explain.

Mar 6

1 hr 8 min

Space Policy Edition: The ahistorical era of commercial lunar exploration

Science historian Dr. Matt Shindell joins the show to discuss the unique era of commercial lunar exploration, and how planetary exploration has evolved and can continue to evolve on and around the Moon.

Mar 1

1 hr 5 min